OECD Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data from Public Funding

The OECD is a unique forum where the governments of 30 democracies work together to address the economic, social and environmental challenges of globalisation. The OECD is also at the forefront of efforts to understand and to help governments respond to new developments and concerns, such as corporate governance, the information economy and the challenges of an ageing population. The Organisation provides a setting where governments can compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practice and work to coordinate domestic and international policies. OECD Publishing disseminates widely the results of the Organisation's statistics gathering and research on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as the conventions, guidelines and standards agreed by its members. This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Organisation or of the governments of its member countries. Foreword Innovative scientific research has a crucial role in addressing global challenges — ranging from health care and climate change to renewable energy and natural resources management. The speed and depth of this research depends on fostering collaborative exchanges between different communities and assuring its widest dissemination. The exchange of ideas, knowledge and data emerging is fundamental for human progress and is part of the core of OECD values. Thus, I am very pleased that the OECD has taken the lead in developing principles and standards to facilitate access to research data generated with public funding. The rapid development in computing technology and the Internet have opened up new applications for the basic sources of research — the base material of research data — which has given a major impetus to scientific work in recent years. Databases are rapidly becoming an essential part of the infrastructure of the global science system. The international Human Genome Project is but one good example of a large-scale endeavour in which openly accessible information is being used successfully by many different users, all over the world, for a great variety of purposes. Besides, access to research data increases the returns from public investment in this area; reinforces open scientific inquiry; encourages diversity of studies and opinion; promotes new areas of work and enables the exploration of topics not envisioned by the initial investigators. Science and Technology Ministers called on the OECD in 2004 to develop a set of guidelines …